Gate.



A. S. CHRISTOPHER.

GATE.

APPLIOATION FILED 11.1, 1910. RENEWED MAR. 17, 1913.

1 3 32 Patented June 3, 1913.

2 BHEETSSHEBT 1.

VWTNESSES' GATE.

APPLICATION TILED APIELI 1910. RENEWED MAR. 1'7, 1913.

1,063,328, Patented June 3, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cO., WASHINGTON. D. c.

GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 1913.

Application filed April 1, 1910, Serial No. 552,764. Renewed March 17, 1913. Serial No. 755,014.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, ALVAI-I S. CHRIsro- P'I-IER, a citizen of Canada, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have'invented new and useful Improvements in Gates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in gates.

More particularly it relates to gates for elevators and public places where it is desired that a single attendant shall open a wide way quickly, by acting from a stationary position.

The invention provides means by which a single and simple pull opens all of several individual barriers located across the opening and comprising the gate, some of them being at a distance from the operator.

In the drawings, which illustrate the above mentioned invention, Figure 1 is an elevation showing the gate closed; Fig. 2 is a similar elevation showing the same gate open; Fig. 3 is a plan in section on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an elevation on a larger scale of a detail of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an elevation of the same in section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is an elevation showing another application of the invention; Fig. 7 is a plan of the apparatus shown in Fig. 6, sectioned on line 77 thereof; and Fig. 8 is an elevation of another form of the invention; Fig. 9 is a plan, showing the gate of Fig. 8, opened.

In Figs. l-5 of the drawings, the way is represented as closed by a gate comprised of two bi-partite barriers or doors which are each collapsible, one being composed of the two parts or leaves 10, 10 and the other of the two parts or leaves 11, 11. These separate in the middle of the way, where the edges 9, of their respective parts or leaves 10 and 11, herein called the center leaves, are seen in Fig. l, in close proximity. They are movable to the positions seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the center leaves being hinged at 10", 11 to their respective jamb leaves 10, 11. In this moving each jamb leaf turns on pivots or hinges 14 at the jamb, and each center leaf turns on a pivot or hinge 15 near its edge 9. A handle 13 is provided at the edge of one of the center leaves. The pivot 14 is stationarily supported on the frame of the gateway as is indicated by the bracket 14. The pivot 15 is supported on bracket 16, which is movable toward and from the bracket 14, on rollers 17 and a way consisting of two rails, 18, under them, and 18, over them. As represented, this is a straight way, leading from the center of the gateway to the jamb on each side, so that the pivots 15 travel in an approximately straight line from the center of the gateway to the extreme side of the gateway. The edge part of each door is preferably supported primarily by the bracket 16. The two rollers 17 on the brackets 16 are set at a little distance apart in the direction of travel. Normally both roll on the under way 18. If the door be handled roughly, or if the hinges 11 be loose, so that there is a tendency to twist the bracket 16 from its vertical hanging, one of the rollers 17 would be raised slightly off of the way 18 and would then encounter the way 18, above it, and roll smoothly thereon. Thus the effort of the operator would immediately be so controlled that it would act to pull the bracket 16 in the direct line in which it is to go, in the case supposed, one roller being on way 18 and just clearing 18 and the other roller being on the under side of 18 and just clearing the top of way 18. This clearness is exaggerated in Fig. 5.

In order to facilitate the inception of the folding of leaves 11 and 11 together, the pivots 15 and 14 are set a little outside the vertical plane of the leaves 11, 11, and the hinges 11 thereof. In Fig. 3 it is clearly seen that the pivots 15 and 14 are offset from the face of the leaves 11, 11, and that the hinge 11 is not substantially oflset therefrom. Hence, viewing Fig. 1, the pivots 14 and 15 are nearer to the eye than the plane passing through the doors 11, 11 and the axis of hinge 11". The result is that the hinges 11" are not in line between pivots 14 and 15, and therefore are not on dead center with respect thereto when a force is applied to move these pivots together. And as the pivots 14, 15 are Set on that side of the plane of the door away from which the hinge 11 moves, when the door folds,

they never become on such dead center.

Mechanism is provided connecting doors 10 and 11. The form here shown comprises a pinion or toothed wheel, 19, mounted on a stud 23 on the casing or frame 25 of the gateway, located centrally over the point where the edges 9 of the doors come together when the gate is closed. Each bracket 16 carries a rack adapted to engage that pinion and to continue in engagement with it when the rack follows the movement of its bracket 1.6. The rack on door 10, 10 is marked 20, and that on door 11, 11 is marked 21. Rack 21 is attached to bracket 16 and may ordinarily rest upon or beside the topof way 18, or any other convenient support. Rack 20 is at 20 attached to the other bracket 16 which forms one point of support. The other point of support of this rack is the pinion 19, and the other end of the rack is free. Consequently this rack 20 is always in engagement with pinion 19, as gravity tends to draw it down upon it. A plate 24 is shown in which is mounted the outer end of the stud 23 and which with the wall or frame 25 forms guide for the racks 20 and 21.

When the operator pulls handle 13 to the right, in Figfl, he pulls the corresponding bracket 16 and rack 21 in the same direction, rotating pinion 19 correspondingly and actuating rack 20 in the opposite direction. This, through its connection 20 pushes the other bracket 16 and door 10, 10 in the opposite direction. The force is transmitted in the most economical manner because power applied at the handle 13 is, by the pair of rollers 17, prevented from causing any binding on the ways; and the stud 23, which is the axis of the pinion 19, constitutes a fulcrum about which the leverage is uniform in both directions and acts with a minimum of friction. In addition to this "the pinion constitutes a lever which is always uniformly in position to act thus favorably, regardless of what position racks 20 and 21 occupy with respect to it. The force pushing pivots 15 and 14; together also always has a favorable leverage for turning hinges 11. This leverage may be made as favorably as desired by causing the pivots 15 and 14 to be set as much as desired away from the plane of the doors. The power may be applied either at the handle 13 or at any other convenient place; may be applied by the hand of an operator or by mechanism; may be applied as a push or a pull; and when the gate is open the doors occupy a narrow space at each side, opening substantially the full width of the way without requiring any space or recess at the side to receive the door, as is necessary with sliding doors.

The form of the invention shown in Figs.

6 and 7 exhibits a very wide gateway di-.

vided into three openings, each of which has its pair of collapsible doors. Rack 21 of each pair is connected directly with the corresponding rack of each other pair. In fact all three racks 21 are preferably formed by cutting gear teeth on different parts of the same rod. The operator, standing at a convenient location, opens the entire gateway by moving the single door nearest him, the others being operated through the medium of the connected racks. This is useful for gateways at railway stations where large numbers of people must be handled quickly. In this form the doors extending across the entire gateway are collapsed substantially in the positions they occupy when extended.

Another application of the invention is shown in Fig. 8 where two collapsible doors are exhibited, which, when collapsed, oc-

cupy positions at the extreme right of the gateway, leaving no obstruction in the middle of the gate. In this case the racks are marked 30 and 31, and the pinion has teeth at two diameters respectively, marked 19 and 19. The bracket 16, which is central in the gateway when the gate is closed, carries two pivots, one for the leaf 11 of the door or barrier 11, 11', and one for the leaf 32 of the door or barrier 32, 32. In this case the parts of the barrier or door 11 and 1]. correspond in arrangement and action to the doors 11, 11 of the other figures. The relation of the leaf 32 to its pivot on bracket 16 corresponds to the relation of door 11 to its adjacent jamb, and the leaf 32 corresponds to the leaf 11, being hinged similarly at 11, its edge 9 being the edge toward the passage when open. The bracket 16 is comparable to a traveling jamb which, when the gate is open, occupies a position over at the right of the figure, with the doors 32, 32 collapsed against it, as 11, 11 are collapsed against the real jamb.

In the course of opening or closing the gate, the bracket 16 travels between the center of the gateway and this position, and the doors 32, 32 fold and unfold with relation thereto, just as if it were stationary. The bracket 16, which is farthest from the stationary jamb, therefore travels twice as far as the bracket 16, and in doing so, travels twice as fast. This is accomplished by means of the differential pinion. The rack 31 which operates it, engages teeth on the pinion arranged on a diameter twice as great as the teeth which engage the other rack 30, which is connected to the bracket 16'. As both these brackets move in the same direction, both racks engage the pinion on the same side of its axis. In use, the operator by pulling the handle 13 a short distance,

actuates all the doors, throwing the door 32 from its folded position at the extreme right entirely across the way. Obviously this arrangement can be extended in as many sections as desired; and the weight of the doors is supported locally on brackets immediately overhead instead of being carried on hinges 11. This has the advantage of affording a clear way when the gate is open, the gate being operable by a person standing at the extreme side of the way.

I claim 1. A gate comprising a pair of movable barriers in combination with a rack and bracket and a pair of rollers on each barrier; a pinion engaged by both racks; ways for the rollers, to guide the movement of the barriers; the rollers in each pair being fixed at a distance apart in the direction of travel; and the ways being adapted to engage either the top or bottom of a roller but not both top and bottom at once.

2. A gate having a collapsible barrier, said barrier having two parts hinged together; a support for each part at a place thereon remote from the hinge; the parts and their hinge being arranged all in the same vertical plane to form a barrier; the said points of support being outside said plane and movable toward each other to collapse the barrier, the hinge then traveling a path which does not intersect the vertical plane in which the supports are.

8. A gate having two bi-partite barriers,

each being adapted to fold upon itself, in combination with a guide-Way and brackets movable thereon toward one side of the gateway; one of said brackets comprising a pivotal support for the leaf most remote from said side; and the other of said brackets supporting pivotally the nearer portion of the nearer leaf of the same barrier, and also the remote portion of the farther leaf of the nearer barrier; a difierential pinion fixed in position; a rack meshing in the larger diameter of the pinion and connected with said farther bracket; and another rack meshing in the smaller diameter and connected with the nearer bracket; whereby the said barriers move toward and collapse at said side of the gateway.

Signed by me at Boston, Mass, this thirtyfirst day of March, 1910.

ALVAH S. CHRISTOPHER. Witnesses:

EVERETT E. KENT, t HAROLD S. LYON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

